Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 88.6 out of 100, higher than about 88% of US counties, with hurricanes, inland (river and flash) flooding and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $83 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 30 federal disaster declarations that included Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region since 1978, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3604-CT (Severe Storms, Flooding, and A Potential Dam Breach, declared 13 January 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 1 tornado touching Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Connecticut All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 280,316 Buildings worth $59 billion Area 689 sq mi Risk rank in Connecticut 6 of 9 FIPS 09180
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane | Relatively High | 94.7 | $22 million | about once every 5.4 years | 68 |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 91.8 | $52 million | about 2.3 a year | 63 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 80.9 | $2.0 million | about once every 877 years | — |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 78.2 | $394,904 | about 1.7 a year | 110 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 76.8 | $199,871 | about 13 a year | 229 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 76.7 | $12,096 | about once every 2.2 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 75.5 | $676,531 | about 23 a year | 128,015 strikes |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 71.3 | $1.1 million | about 4.5 a year | 66 |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively Moderate | 71.2 | $1.3 million | about 3.7 a year | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 57.3 | $751,140 | about 1.6 a year | 60 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 53.1 | $1.5 million | about once every 6.1 years | 0 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 45.2 | $241,664 | about 1.8 a year | 70 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 42.9 | $814,037 | about once every 1.1 years | 16 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 39.4 | $27,689 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 32.4 | $36,156 | about 1.1 a year | 91 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Volcanic activity | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
Score: FEMA's percentile among US counties that face the hazard (higher = more risk). Expected loss: FEMA's modelled average yearly loss to buildings, people (as a statistical value) and crops. How often: FEMA's annualised frequency of the hazard in the county; for some hazards it counts event-days, so it is a rough guide, not a forecast. "Not Applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard here.
Federal disaster declarations 30
Most common: Hurricane 11, Severe Storm 10, Snowstorm 8, Flood 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1 | Snowstorm |
| 1980s | 2 | Hurricane, Flood |
| 1990s | 3 | Snowstorm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2000s | 7 | Snowstorm ×4, Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 12 | Severe Storm ×7, Hurricane ×4, Snowstorm |
| 2020s | 5 | Hurricane ×4, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region
- Hurricane Henri (2021, EM-3564-CT): 9 Connecticut counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Isaias (2021, DR-4580-CT): 9 Connecticut counties designated.
- Tropical Storm Isaias (2020, EM-3535-CT): 9 Connecticut counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Ida (2021), Hurricane Henri (2021), Tropical Storm Isaias (2021), Tropical Storm Isaias (2020), Hurricane Sandy (2012), Tropical Storm Irene (2011), Hurricane Irene (2011), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Bob (1991), Hurricane Gloria (1985).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Connecticut also had 2 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 1
| Tornadoes touching the county | 1 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F0 ×1 |
| Peak month | October (1) |
| Deadliest | — |
| Longest path | 29 Oct 2018, EF0, 2.3 mi path |
| Most recent | 29 Oct 2018, EF0, 2.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 0 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Deaths and injuries are for each tornado's whole path, which can run beyond this county. F-scale ratings before February 2007, Enhanced Fujita (EF) after.
How Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 88.6 | Hurricane |
| Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region | 34 km | Relatively Moderate | 83.8 | Inland flooding |
| Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region | 37 km | Relatively Low | 62.8 | Hurricane |
| Washington County, RI | 40 km | Relatively Low | 64.0 | Hurricane |
| Kent County, RI | 46 km | Relatively Low | 69.4 | Hurricane |
| Capitol Planning Region | 52 km | Relatively High | 97.4 | Inland flooding |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Connecticut, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 26.7 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 86.4 |
| Community risk factor | 0.94 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $83 million |
FEMA scales expected losses up where social vulnerability is high (people who may find it harder to prepare, evacuate or recover) and down where community resilience is high. A factor above 1 raises the risk score. For social vulnerability a high rating is worse; for resilience a high rating is better.
Prepare for Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Connecticut · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Your property's flood zone: FEMA Flood Map Service Center ↗ — this page cannot tell you that.
- Official preparedness guidance: Ready.gov ↗ and your county emergency management office.
What this page shows, and what it misses
FEMA's National Risk Index rates a whole county against every other US county; it is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not a substitute for a local risk assessment or the risk to one home. Declarations are presidential disaster, emergency and fire management declarations that named this county; state declarations and SBA or USDA designations are not included. Tornadoes are counted when the county is one of up to four listed on the track; 670 tornadoes that crossed a state line carry no county list in NOAA's file and are left out. Connecticut now uses nine planning regions: older declarations and tornadoes listed by the eight former counties are assigned to every planning region that shares a town with that county, so a region can show events that hit only part of it.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index Dataset: National Risk Index Counties - v1.20.0 (December 2025). Retrieved from https://services.arcgis.com/XG15cJAlne2vxtgt/ArcGIS/rest/services/National_Risk_Index_Counties/FeatureServer/0/query on November 2, 2026, 1:20 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2, retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries on November 2, 2026, 1:21 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Tornado records: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, Severe Weather Database, tornadoes 1950–2025 (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/data/1950-2025_actual_tornadoes.csv, downloaded 2 November 2026). Public domain; not endorsed by NOAA. Compiled by Global Incident Tracker.
Questions about Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region
What natural disasters is Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut most at risk from?
Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 88.6 out of 100, higher than about 88% of US counties, with hurricanes, inland (river and flash) flooding and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $83 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region had?
OpenFEMA lists 30 federal disaster declarations that included Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region since 1978, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3604-CT (Severe Storms, Flooding, and A Potential Dam Breach, declared 13 January 2024). Another 2 Connecticut declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 1 tornado touching Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region from 1950 to 2025.
Is the National Risk Index a flood zone map?
No. The National Risk Index is a planning-level estimate for a whole county, built for nationwide comparison. It does not tell you the flood zone or the risk of a single property: for that, look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) and ask your local floodplain manager.